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Essays & reviews by Asa Gray

Asa Gray wrote a series of reviews of Darwin’s works for American magazines such as Atlantic Monthly and The Nation.

These gave publicity to Darwin’s theories, and they also contained extended reflections on the possible implications of these theories for natural theology and religious belief. Darwin was particularly pleased with one of these reviews, and arranged for it to be republished in England as a pamphlet. A collection of Gray’s reviews was published in book form in 1876 under the title Darwiniana. This was reissued in 1963 but is now rare and difficult to obtain. Seven of these reviews, written between 1860 and 1876, which bear especially on the topic of Darwin and religion, are provided here in fully searchable form.